


Halo

by IraBragi



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M, Major character death - Freeform, life after death, true love can't be broken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 18:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6576976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IraBragi/pseuds/IraBragi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Goddamn it!  I did not want to write write a fic where they die but my brain would not shut up, so here it is.  I'm sorry!  It starts out super sad but then gets very fluffy.   </p>
<p>For for time line clarification this is set pre-Catherine leaving the military so about the beginning of season 4.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Halo

**Author's Note:**

> Goddamn it! I did not want to write write a fic where they die but my brain would not shut up, so here it is. I'm sorry! It starts out super sad but then gets very fluffy. 
> 
> For for time line clarification this is set pre-Catherine leaving the military so about the beginning of season 4.

     It was Catherine who brought him the news. It made sense, she worked Navel intelligence so it stood to reason she would know when it all went so very wrong. When Danny opened the door and saw her face, he knew.

     Danny could talk all day long but in that moment he had only one word, “No. No, no, no.” Soft at first then louder, until he was screaming. Somewhere, dimly in the back of his brain, he was glad that Grace wasn't there to hear her father break apart. Cath held him until his sobs quieted and then she called Chin and Kono. They held him for the rest of the night.

     Danny told Grace and watched her face crumple as he explained as gently as he could that “Uncle” Steve, who had become like a father to her over the last four years, was not coming home. Danny held her and they cried. He twisted the simple gold band on his left ring finger around and around until he didn't know which would break first, the ring or his finger.

     When Steve was called up to active status he had wanted to marry Danny right away. Danny could still picture them sitting in the backyard together, Steve had been too quiet all day and Danny had been too worried to shut up. Then in the middle of a rant Steve had grabbed Danny's hand and dropped to one knee, “Marry me Danny. I want to know it's real – wherever I go, whatever happens, you will be there when I come back.” Danny had pulled him up and kissed Steve, the man he loved with all his heart, as if just by kissing he could keep him safe from all harm.

     Danny knew it was about more than just knowing Danny would be there when he returned, no words or papers were needed to ensure that. That was why Danny refused to get married like that. He said that it was bad luck and that Steve was just going to have to come back in one piece and marry him then. Steve accepted it but there was a tightness in his face, if Danny didn't know better he would swear that Steve was afraid.

     Three days later Steve shoved a small box into his hand. “What's this?” Steve actually blushed, then straitened his shoulders and plowed ahead.

     “I know you said you don't want to get married right now and I respect your reasons but I need something to remind me that it's real. It can get really bad out there Danny and I want to be able to look at my hand and know that somewhere you are looking at your ring too. You and Grace are my lifeline and I need to remember that. Please Danno?”

     For once Danny had no words. Nestled in the box were two matching gold wedding bands, one slightly larger than the other. He picked up the larger one and slowly, gently, placed it on Steve's ring finger his eyes never leaving Steve's face. Steve took his hand and repeated the gesture then kissed Danny's knuckles. “When you come home I will marry the fuck out of you, you silly, crazy SEAL” Danny promised.

     Danny had no expectation of receiving Steve's flag at the funeral and with all his heart he hated himself for his pig headed refusal to legally formalize what he and Steve were. He assumed Mary would take it, or maybe Doris if she bothered to show up. He knew that he was named as the owner of the house in Steve's will and he knew he should be thankful. Instead, every time he looked around, all he could see were the ghosts of the last four years. Two of partnership and friendship that built the foundation and then the two years that he and Steve had been together in every sense of the word.

     The day of the funeral was cold for Hawaii but clear and beautiful. Danny didn't cry as he sat between Mary, who had Joan on her lap, and Grace who held his hand and refused to let go. Doris did show up but she hung back standing next to Joe with a look of frozen misery. Danny had his issues with the woman but he also pitied her. She had wasted twenty years and then thrown away her second chance to know her son. Death stole so many things but the chance to fix what was left unsaid was the cruelest. Logically Danny knew that a marriage license would not have changed anything that happened but guilt still gnawed at him all the same.

     The flag was folded and he turned to watch Mary but the officer walked past her and snapped to attention in front of Danny, “With the thanks of a grateful nation” he intoned and saluted. The guns rung out and Danny's hands shook so badly he had to grasp the edges of the flag to keep from dropping it. When he looked down his knuckles were white and he swore he could feel the brush of Steve's lips against his hand just like the day the had exchanged rings.

     It did not take a detective to know who must have ordered the change of flag recipients. He walked up to Joe and stuck out his hand. “Thank you Sir.” It sounded too formal but he was out of words and Joe was never one to do hugs.

     “I might be a grouchy old man but I had eyes. Steve was always a first class soldier but you made him a better man. He was crazy about you son, never forget that.” Danny nodded and moved to shake Doris' hand, who to his surprise, instead pulled him into a hug.

     “You were always there for him. Thank you.” Danny blinked back tears he didn't realize were in his eyes.

     That night Kono, Chin, Rachel, and even Cath all tried to get him to let them stay with him. He mused darkly that the were all probably afraid of what he might do if left alone. _He_ though that he should probably be afraid too but he couldn't manage to feel anything with the frozen block of ice that his body had turned into. All he could think was that he would be alone every night from now on so he should start getting used to it. Finally Cath handed him an envelop and they all left him in peace.

     Danny walked into the house, up the stairs, into the bedroom and sat down carefully on the bed. He wanted to do something – drink, scream, fight, break something – anything to forget the truth, but somehow he knew if he started he would never stop. He might have lost Steve but Danny still had Grace to think of so he couldn't let himself go down that road, no matter how much oblivion called to him. Instead he sat on the bed shaking like all the emotions inside him were trying to pour out at once.

     After a time he noticed the envelope. He knew what it was of course, and as much as he didn't want to read it he knew he owed it to Steve to read his last words (that and so much more he could never repay.)

 

Dear Danno,

     I know that you promised to kill me if I ever wrote you one of these things again but if you are reading it then it's a moot point. I want you to know that I'm sorry. I promised to come home to you alive I guess I broke my word. I hope you can forgive me.

     I know that I'm not the best with words and feelings (goodness knows you have yelled at me for it often enough) but I couldn't leave without letting you know one more time what you mean to me. I love you Daniel Williams.

     The day I became a SEAL and earned my trident I though that I had accomplished the most important thing I would ever do. I wore the eagle and trident insignia with pride and I was willing to die for ideal that it represented. Then I came to Hawaii and I accepted the governor's shield so I could track down Victor Hess. At that time all I could see was my own need for revenge but slowly you and Chin and Kono taught me that 5-O meant more than that. I'm proud of what we did, the lives we saved, and the bad guys we put away. But the most important symbol that I have ever wore was the ring that you put on my hand.

     You taught me that there is more than duty and honor and being willing to die for an ideal. You showed me how to live. You and Grace became my reason to keep fighting. In North Korea, when I had no idea how to forgive my mom, when everything became too much, you were there never letting me falter.

     So please keep on living Danny. Love Grace for me, complain about pineapples and the sand, and don't forget how to laugh. If you find someone to love please don't hold back because of me, what I want most is for you to be happy...

There was more but Danny couldn't see through the tears that were running down his face.

     Much later he would learn that it had been fast and painless. A man had gone down and Steve had broke cover to pull him back when a round hit him squarely in the temple. He knew that it was classified and Catherine knew that it was classified and she told him anyway. Danny mused that it shouldn't be so comforting to talk to his fiance's ex but they had both loved Steve and there was a sort of kinship in that.

     There was talk of shutting 5-O down but Danny had marched into the Governors' office and told him point blank that the work the team did would not end with Steve's death. Danny was offered the job of leading the team and he did until he was able to pass the role to Kono and go back to being second in command. People came and went from the team and the work they did spoke for its self.

     Occasionally he overheard new recruits whisper about the picture and flag that were displayed in the entrance of the building.

     “That's Steve McGarrett. He started the team. His husband is Detective Willams, don't ever ask him about pineapples.” Over the years the stories about Steve grew and Danny became a legend in their own right. He stopped correcting people who called him Steve's husband and he never once took off his ring.

     Danny did learn to laugh again. When he learned the truth about Charlie he put everything he had into building a relationship with his son, he watched Grace graduate from high school, and he held Kono and Adam's twins. He might not be the leader of 5-O on paper but anyone on the team would tell you that he was its heart. The only thing that he could never do was try to be with someone else. He admired Chin for moving on after Melia died but Danny knew his limits and he was not that strong.

     In the end it was a stupid accident. He was on the freeway driving to interview a witness when a truck puled out in front of him. Danny felt the impact, his head snapped back, and everything went gray. His thoughts came in disconnected images – Grace in her dorm room, Charley learning to play baseball, the team having a cook out, and Steve. Steve was there, arms wrapped around him, and he was whispering in his ear,

     “It's ok Danny, it's time. I've been waiting for you for so long.” The next time Danny opened his eyes the car was nowhere to be seen and Steve was standing in front of him.

     “So I'm dead right?” Danny though that he actually felt alright for a dead man.

     “Yes, I tried to stop the car accident. I really did, but somethings are beyond my pay grade.”

     “So were, what, how?” Danny spluttered to a stop. Steve looked like he remembered him – tall, tanned, his hair finally growing out from that silly buzz cut, with his badge and gun on his hip.

     “You know the idea of guardian angels?”

     “Yeah, silly stuff that you learn in Sunday school.”

     “You always were the skeptic, but yeah as close as I can tell that's what we are. At least I am. I was kinda hoping that you would stay with me for a little bit longer. I've been watching over you for a long time, you and Grace and everyone really.”

     Danny smiled, “Trust you to find a way to keep tabs on me even from the beyond. You have control issues. Also, I'm not wearing a halo.” Steve smiled at him fondly and pulled him close.

     “I'd never dream of it.”

     Some people believe in angels while others laugh at such a childish idea. But if there are people would willingly put themselves in harm's way to protect the innocent, is it so hard to understand how that force of will can reach far beyond mortal concepts like life and death? And for the record, angels don't have halos, but those two particular guardians did wear a matching set of gold rings that shone brighter than any halo ever imagined.


End file.
